Truly Reunited
by iviscrit
Summary: Kuvira has been sentenced to ten years of service under the avatar, and Baatar has been contracted as an engineer for the United Forces. A year after her trial's conclusion, they cross paths again. For Day 7: Unity of Baavira Week.


Day 7: Unity

The rubble from the explosion made navigating the site difficult, and Kuvira found herself questioning the wisdom of Korra's decision to detonate the bomb that ultimately brought the meeting place of the rebel faction to a much-belated end. It had taken another two weeks to round up the members that had escaped the blast, and the cleanup of the area was slow going. Shards of glass, twisted and blackened spears of metal, and earthen bricks littered the area for yards, and the avatar's team was stretched thin as it tried to contain the looting and protect the citizens in the area. Kuvira was in the process of bending away the scrap; it was a veritable mountain of waste, and with every motion she swore under her breath at the avatar for calling for demolition without thinking through the logistics of rebuilding.

She couldn't help but smile. Two years ago, she had done the same with markedly less noble motivations.

Kuvira paused as the jaws of a new mechanized tank closed around a heap of rubble, hoisting it with a terrible screech of metal on metal that split the frigid air and left her ears ringing. She moved to a new location, aiding in the cleanup effort while Korra paused without warning, looking at the tank with keen interest and suddenly dashed off, calling her and gesturing enthusiastically.

"Knock it off," Korra said suddenly, signaling her to stop. "Come on, they've reached! I see the airship, and the banners—"

"What do you mean?" Kuvira said crossly, folding her arms over her chest. "Avatar Korra, we have a job to finish.. a job that _you_ contracted, I might remind you."

"Come on," Korra said happily, waving her over. "Don't make me write you up for insubordination."

Kuvira sighed, following the avatar to the site. "Ah, I see. The United Forces are here. Well, reinforcements are reinforcements, even if they're two weeks late…"

"Come _on_," Korra repeated, this time insistently. "It's good to see you, Iroh," she said to the general. "You remember Kuvira."

"It's hard to forget her," Iroh said, offering his hand. "The last time we crossed paths, I was being turned over to her army as a prisoner of war, shortly after she threatened to wipe us out with the colossus."

Kuvira ignored the barb, and shook his hand firmly. "A pleasure, I'm sure. We treated our captives well in the empire."

Korra and Iroh exchanged looks. "Korra, would you like to join me for tea?" Iroh said, gesturing. "We have an excellent selection of blends."

"Sounds great," Korra said. She turned back when she realized Kuvira wasn't following her, and jogged over. "Come _on_," she said for the fourth time. "You're having tea with us."

"Can you say anything else? And why?" Kuvira snapped. "I doubt he meant to extend an invitation to the former commander that took him prisoner."

She let out a squawk of indignation as Korra slung her over a shoulder and hurried after Iroh. "Remember, if you lay a hand on me I can have you in a jail cell and with another lawsuit against you," Korra warned. She deposited Kuvira in a seat next to Iroh and sat opposite her, straightening her hair and looking expectantly at the doorway.

"Sorry I'm late," a familiar voice said. "I wasn't aware that it was break-time."

Kuvira's jaw dropped. "Baatar?"

He froze for a moment but recovered quickly, taking off his glasses and wiping them on the edge of his tunic before pushing them up on his nose. "Kuvira? What are you.. when did you—?"

"Surprise!" Korra said, throwing her arms out to the side. "Iroh told me he was in the area, and since Baatar is under contract to the Republic… I thought it would be the perfect reunion for you both. It's been what, a year?"

"Nearly a year," Kuvira said, shoving her seat back and walking over to greet Baatar with a hug. "Ten months and three weeks, to be exact—"

"Two weeks and six days," Baatar said, "since we're going for maximum accuracy. How have you been?" he added, embracing her quickly and taking the seat next to hers. "You stopped writing."

"Korra and I have been busy snuffing out the terrorist cells throughout the nation," Kuvira said. "She handles the political negotiations while I handle the work in the field, though it _is_ useful to have the most powerful bender in the world backing you up when the resistance proves stubborn."

"That's an odd role reversal," Iroh observed, sipping his tea. "Korra's less practiced in diplomatic affairs."

"I've learned a lot from Kuvira, actually," Korra said. "And I like to think she's learned something from me too.. like how to balance power with fairness and knowing one's place in the world."

"Working with you has been enlightening, yes," Kuvira conceded. "I didn't think my sentence would prove to be so… enjoyable, at times." She turned to Baatar. "How have you been? The magna-train system has upped the transport system efficiency in the United Republic significantly, from what I've read. Why are you stationed with General Iroh now?"

"I had the option of remaining in the city, or returning to the Earth Kingdom," Baatar said. "I think you know why I chose the latter."

Korra and Iroh exchanged looks as Kuvira's usually stony expression softened. "You chose well," she said quietly.

It struck her as odd that, despite months of little to no correspondence, there was none of the lingering awkwardness that had accompanied their post-invasion meetings. Baatar's visits during her period of incarceration had started out with angry, heartbroken outbursts on his end and silent regret punctuated by apologies on hers, gradually followed by comfort and concluding with tentative affection before her trial. It had taken a year to become comfortable enough with one another to confess that their feelings had not been destroyed with the Future Industries warehouse. After she was sentenced to ten years of contracted labor under the supervision of the avatar, Baatar, already contracted in service to the state, confessed that he was still in love with her regardless of what had happened and what they had become.

_"You're not the woman I proposed to," he had said, her hands in his as they stood in the side room of the courthouse. "And I'm no longer the man I was when I proposed."_

_"You're right," she had agreed. "That's what bothered me the most, during my time in the cell. I couldn't put my finger on the place or the time when I changed —or when you did, for that matter— but somehow I doubt I would have been so fixated on a territory our nation lost nearly two centuries ago to the point that I'd be willing to sacrifice you for its annexation, four years ago."_

_"And did you figure it out?" Baatar had asked her, his hands snugly fitting around hers like the gloves she had long since given up. "Because I think I did."_

_"I think so," she had said thoughtfully. "It was gradual, wasn't it? Each military success… each governer and warlord and commander folding before our army.. Recognition by the world leaders, and the love of the citizens we took under our protection—all of it got me closer to the edge."_

"_The edge being?" _

"_The edge that separated me from any other tyrant," she had said, Su's words sour on her tongue, "and the Great Uniter. Because they called me that out of respect, didn't they? Out of respect, and admiration, and love for the country. And then I let them fall back into chaos with my imprisonment, and I lost you in the bargain."_

"_I wanted recognition at any cost," he had said, "and I wanted you. And I still do, despite everything that has happened. I asked myself if I could love you after all that we've done and after what you became."_

_She had smiled. "And did you figure out the answer?"_

_He had leaned forward to kiss her, and she closed her eyes. It felt natural, more natural than she had ever expected it to feel after the months of heartbreak to understanding to love. "I did."_

"You were in the tank," Kuvira said suddenly, jolted back to the present from her reverie as Baatar gently cleared his throat. She turned to Korra. "How did you know?"

"Iroh wired and let me know where he'd be last week," the avatar replied. "And when I saw how he had assigned the United Forces to help with the relief effort, and Baatar's latest patent front and center, I knew which contracted war criminal would be working off his sentence behind the controls." She smiled. "Aren't you guys happy? I know how difficult it is being away from the ones you love, believe me."

"Ecstatic," Kuvira said, unsmiling. But she meant it, and she took his hand in her own under the table, entwining his fingers with hers.

Tea proceeded in a stiff, formal manner. Kuvira imagined it would take the entirety of her sentence before she could relax into an easy friendship with the avatar after all that she had done, but the year under her employ had proven it did not have to take quite so long. Every day felt easier, and she saw how far they had come from attempted homicide as they sat across from one another, Korra making the occasional joke and Kuvira herself managing a smile each time.

Iroh and Korra left them after some time, suggesting they take a moment to catch up, and she leaned her head against Baatar's shoulder as the door closed. "I've missed you," she said frankly. "Every single day."

"I've missed you too," he said as he shifted in his seat to better accommodate her. "Letters are a poor substitute, and our mailing addresses change so frequently that they seem pointless. Still, that hasn't changed a thing about how I feel, Kuvira."

"You could move on," Kuvira said. "I'm sure Su has been pushing you to date again, it's been a couple of years since the end of our engagement."

"She has," Baatar said, stroking the ridges of her knuckles, raw from the cold winter air. "And I humored her, a few times."

"Any success?"

He looked at her sharply. "That's a ridiculous question and you know it. My heart has belonged to you since we were teenagers."

She closed her eyes, leaning into his touch. "I can say with some confidence that none of those young women would fire a spirit weapon at you."

"You're probably right," he conceded, "but then again I can say with the utmost confidence that I would never build one for any of them."

"Certainly not, it would violate your terms of release."

"Kuvira," he said with a sigh, "you know what I meant. Do you still have it, by the way?"

"The colossus?" She arched a brow. "Oh, the ring. Yes, I do," she said, pulling the chain that held it out from the neckline of her tunic. "It seems silly to wear it on my hand, and without gloves it'll only tarnish—"

"May I have it back, please?"

She gaped but recovered quickly, trying to mask the hurt in her eyes. "Of course," she said, unclasping the chain and handing him the ring.

"Kuvira, don't look so upset," Baatar said gently. He pushed back his seat and stood, only to drop to his knee a moment later. Kuvira felt a smile blooming over her face, and she was already nodding before he had gotten a word out. "Kuvira," he began, his voice the most hopeful she'd heard it since the radio call that preceded the blast from the colossus, "I've wanted two things in life more than anything else. The first is to make a name for myself as an engineer, and leave my mark on the world. I've done that, and I'm paying for it… in fact, I'm trying to fix the mark I left. But the other thing I've always wanted is to be your husband. Will you—"

"Yes," she said, pulling him up to his full height and allowing him to slide the ring onto her finger. "As if you ever needed to ask," she added before she kissed him, smiling against his lips as she felt, for the first time since the failed Republic City invasion, that they were truly reunited.

**A/N: don'ttouchmeokay. imdead. Thank you all for an incredible baavira week. **


End file.
